21 March 2013

Abstract:A remarkable discovery made by 20th century astronomers
was that the Universe is threaded with magnetic fields. Furthermore,
these magnetic fields typically do not have a random, tangled,
morphology, but are surprisingly organized and coherent. However, the
processes that create and then sustain this large-scale magnetism are
not yet understood. I will present innovative new observations of
radio polarization and Faraday rotation, and will explain how these
data sets provide a unique view of magnetic fields in interstellar
gas, in the Milky Way, and in distant galaxies. These experiments pave
the way to the opening of the full magnetic Universe with the next
generation of radio telescopes, culminating in the Square Kilometre
Array.